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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23327956">Even A Fool Knows</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmperorMinhyun/pseuds/EmperorMinhyun'>EmperorMinhyun</a>, <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/spookyboywithspookystories/pseuds/spookyboywithspookystories'>spookyboywithspookystories</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Stray Kids (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - High School, Bang Chan is Whipped, ChanBinLix (established), ChanBinLix are the himbo trio, Crack Treated Seriously, Dramatic Hyunjin, Endgame Not Tagged, Gay Panic, Himbo trio are Not Smart, Hyunjin and Jeongin are way too sassy, Idiots in Love, Light Angst, M/M, Minho has No Shame, Misunderstandings, OT3, On Track (music video), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags, Pining, Seo Changbin is Whipped, Slow Burn, Soft Lee Felix (Stray Kids), Tags Contain Spoilers, We are our own editors be nice, everyone is whipped for felix</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 05:47:18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,185</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23327956</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmperorMinhyun/pseuds/EmperorMinhyun, https://archiveofourown.org/users/spookyboywithspookystories/pseuds/spookyboywithspookystories</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Hyunjin is pining over Jisung, and Minho gets in the way.  Jeongin is Tired (tm).  Seungmin has better things to do.  Chan and Changbin are too busy being whipped for Felix.  </p><p>Hyunjin is doomed.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bang Chan/Lee Felix, Bang Chan/Lee Felix/Seo Changbin, Bang Chan/Seo Changbin, Hwang Hyunjin &amp; Han Jisung | Han, Hwang Hyunjin &amp; Yang Jeongin | I.N, Lee Felix/Seo Changbin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>40</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Group Project</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hello, we watched the new SKZ music video and had galaxy brain time.  Y'all have to deal with the results :D  Let us know if you want singular and more often updates, or double updates less regularly?  I mean, we aren't exactly pressed for content yet.</p><p>~Gemini &amp; Jae~</p><p>PS: where the heck was Changbin in the video excuse us (we're Changbin biased if you can't tell - we are mean, with love)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The words ‘</span>
  <em>
    <span>group project</span>
  </em>
  <span>’ are written in messy chalk across the blackboard, and the entire class groaned collectively.  Hyunjin avoided Mr Park’s eyes as a single enthusiastic hand was raised.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sir, do we get to choose our groups?”  Changbin’s voice rang out, making multiple class members roll their eyes.  Hyunjin, as well as everyone, knew Changbin just wanted to be in a group with Chan and Felix - the aptly named </span>
  <em>
    <span>himbo trio</span>
  </em>
  <span>.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jeongin nudged Hyunjin with an elbow, nodding to the indicated assignment.  </span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>“It might not be too bad, the people in this class know what they’re doing at least.”  Hyunjin hummed, disagreeing but choosing to stay silent.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>While the majority were fine, there were two that would mean guaranteed failure for Hyunjin.  The nuisances were Minho, who never contributed to class - Hyunjin had his own reasons for disliking the other boy - and Jisung, who would be a distraction enough on his own.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Mr Park, </span>
  <em>
    <span>usually Hyunjin’s favourite teacher</span>
  </em>
  <span>, shakes his head lazily.</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>“This assignment will be involving the whole class; you will assign the roles yourselves, and make something worthy of my class.”  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Park Jinyoung was well aware of his prowess in the art of film-making, famed for his skills in their school, and accepted no less than perfection; Hyunjin could appreciate that.  Unfortunately, that meant working with the himbo trio, and three who were variable class clowns and delinquents. At least he could kind of trust Jeongin to hold his weight, as the younger had a talent for writing and enjoyed the class enough. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hyunjin looked ahead, seeing the himbo trio high five as they realised they would be able to work with one another. He could already feel the headache brewing - while they were his friends and he knew they </span>
  <em>
    <span>were</span>
  </em>
  <span> extremely talented, he also knew he was going to be spending half the project breaking up their impromptu makeout sessions or having to do damage control (possibly for either bodily damage or actual law breaking).  Ignoring the other two classmates that caused Hyunjin unending trouble, Seungmin was smart. Too smart. Smart enough to realize Hyunjin might actually do the work, and likely delegate to the more </span>
  <em>
    <span>willing participants</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hyunjin sighed dramatically, as was his brand - this was going to be a trial.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Without much prompting or arguments, the roles were assigned.  Members of the class had previously worked together, and were aware of the strengths and weaknesses present.  Hyunjin was allocated as camera man, which he didn’t mind at all; filmography was his favourite. Jeongin was, of course, given scriptwriter privileges; the child was way too happy in Hyunjin’s opinion.  The fox-like boy often tried to use his scripts to his own advantage, and for his own amusement. Changbin, enthusiastic as always, chose lighting - he clearly wanted to show off his muscles, but that wasn’t Hyunjin’s business. Chan was given audio and sound design, which Hyunjin was thankful for - the Australian may be chaotic, but he was definitely talented in that area.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix was multi-talented, fairly good at most things, but decided on editing - Hyunjin hoped that he would be able to focus on the task, rather than his boyfriends.  Seungmin, evil genius he may be, happily took the director role. Minho, who sat quietly staring out the window, was allocated as an actor - Hyunjin rolled his eyes, the man sure was dramatic enough for the task.  And Jisung…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Ah, Jisung.</span>
  </em>
  <span>  Of course he was also dragged in as an actor, how could he not have been?  Hyunjin agreed heavily with the decision, Jisung definitely had the looks for film. With his cute squishy cheeks and his expressive eyes, Hyunjin couldn’t imagine anyone else to fill in the role of actor - even if Minho had also been given the task. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jeongin once again nudged Hyunjin out of his internal monologue about Jisung’s beauty, squinting knowingly, before grinning with ominous glee.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve been wanting to write a romantic film lately, and this is a perfect opportunity.  Right, Hyunjin?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span> At Hyunjin’s silent glare, the himbo trio - who were apparently paying attention for once - piped up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Both Minho and Hannie are great actors, they’d be great for a romantic story,” Felix smiled brightly, and Hyunjin couldn’t bring himself to dampen his spirits.  Changbin, who had sneakily been trying to pull the younger boy onto his lap, nodded in enthusiastic agreement. Chan pouted at being excluded, before leaning his head on Changbin’s shoulder, cooing and Felix’s smile. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Minho coughed into his hand, the sound suspiciously close to the word ‘whipped’; for once, Hyunjin couldn’t disagree. To be fair though, everyone was whipped for Felix, and for good reason.  No one in the room, except maybe Mr Park, could resist the pairing of freckles with childish glee.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hyunjin’s eyes turned back to where Jisung was chatting animatedly to Seungmin, sitting suspiciously close to a smug looking Minho.  The delinquent stared back, almost daringly, before winking and turning away. The action was far too quick for Hyunjin to be sure it wasn’t his imagination, but he was pretty sure the bastard was teasing him anyway.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>~~~</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hyunjin spent the rest of the day half focusing on the rest of his classes, the group project from his film studies class occupying the forefront of his mind. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He was excited to be the cameraman - it gave him ample opportunity to stare at Jisung’s cute little cheeks without making him look like a weirdo, and he also loved messing around with cameras.  Unfortunately, it also came with the drawback of also having to watch his crush interact </span>
  <em>
    <span>closely and romantically</span>
  </em>
  <span> with Minho, his nemesis.  The other drawback was that Hyunjin would probably also have to </span>
  <em>
    <span>interact</span>
  </em>
  <span> with the annoying elder, and have to feign non-disgust at his presence.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hopefully, he could use this opportunity to learn more about Jisung. For, as much as he ranted to Jeongin about every little cute thing his crush did, he didn’t actually know much about the shorter boy. Only that he was interested in music, often producing songs with Chan and Changbin, and was one of the top students in their grade. That, and he had adorable cheeks.  And abs. Hyunjin definitely knew about those.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Jeongin's Dilemma</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ~ Gemini</p><p>¯\_(シ)_/¯ ~ Jae</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“I swear, Jeongin, that asshole is trying my patience!”  Jeongin watched as Hyunjin angrily chewed on the straw of his milk carton, glaring at the assignment sheet in front of them.  The upper left corner of the paper had already been vandalized by Chan, who had scribbled a surprisingly cute cartoon worm - Jeongin wasn’t sure if it was actually a worm - with a little crown.  Jeongin flopped onto Hyunjin’s bed, feigning exhaustion.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I </span>
  <em>
    <span>know</span>
  </em>
  <span>, you tell me about how much he annoys you every day.  You also tell me about Jisung’s ‘</span>
  <em>
    <span>jeekies</span>
  </em>
  <span>’ every day too, if you’re looking for more things to stop telling me about.”  Jeongin face-planted into Hyunjin’s pillow, and if he was secretly delighted at being on Hyunjin’s bed, that was no one’s business.  The older threw his school bag onto the desk, pouting grumpily at his best friend.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re so ungrateful, I didn’t walk you home to get disrespected like this.”  Jeongin rolled over lazily, sporting a truly pathetic expression.</span>
</p><p> </p><p><span>“Oh,</span> <span>I’m</span><em><span> sorry, my liege, </span></em><span>did you want me to fetch the newspaper and your slippers?”  Jeongin dodged the school blazer thrown at his head, cackling with glee.</span></p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sometimes I wish you didn’t live next door,” the elder crossed his arms and collapsed dramatically into the desk chair.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s a lie and you know it,”  Jeongin said with a smug grin, and turned to face-plant onto the pillow once more.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jeongin clearly remembered the day he had met Hyunjin, after the younger had been moved with his family to the house beside the elder’s.  It had been multiple years, nearly four, and Jeongin still had a stupid crush on the older boy - even if he was an idiot most of the time.  Hyunjin of course had no idea - like usual - about anyone’s feelings, except perhaps his own. Unfortunately, the elder’s obsession with Jisung’s external beauty had no effect on Jeongin’s feelings, leading to another level of pining.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jeongin wasn’t stupid, and he was self aware.  He knew that he liked Hyunjin, who was infatuated with another boy - possibly two, if he counted the obsession with Minho.  Jisung was extremely sweet, if a little excessive and energetic at times, and Jeongin couldn’t fault either Jisung or Hyunjin for the situation.  It was unfortunate for all parties, although it was likely Jisung was happily unaware of all the pining that plagued the class members.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>~~~</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jeongin’s head hit the table with a resounding </span>
  <em>
    <span>thump</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Sometimes - regularly - he questioned why he liked Hyunjin. The boy was extremely sweet, but extremely dense, and Jeongin just wanted to smack the oblivious boy in the face with everything he missed. Seriously, how could someone be </span>
  <em>
    <span>that</span>
  </em>
  <span> dense?  How had Hyunjin survived this long?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why won’t he notice me?” Hyunjin whined for the umpteenth time, ignorant to the pained cringe that briefly flashed over Jeongin’s face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I guess I’ll be single forever!” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>With a resigned expression, Jeongin slowly sat back, pretending to pay attention to where Mr Park was finishing the explanation for their group project.  Luckily, they were given pretty much free reign over the subject, the only requirements really being that it had to meet a fifteen minute mark and that they had to incorporate techniques they had previously learned in the class.  Mr Park had stressed very clearly that symbolism and subtext were to be utilized in every area, which Hyunjin </span>
  <em>
    <span>should</span>
  </em>
  <span> have been focused on, rather than pining over Jisung.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix, Changbin and Chan were clearly in need of direction - they loved this kind of work, but left to their own devices, nothing would get done.  Jeongin ushered his forlorn friend in their direction, hoping that perhaps they would be distracting enough for the pining boy.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>With Hyunjin out of sight for the moment, Jeongin pulled out his notebook, planning on finishing his draft of the script.  Jeongin softly chewed on the eraser at the end of his pencil, furrowing his brows. With a quick glance up, Jeongin focused on where Minho and Jisung were sitting, trying to figure out the best way to incorporate their external personalities into the characters. He repeated this motion a few more times, jotting notes down as he went, until he noticed one of his muses had disappeared. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A loud </span>
  <em>
    <span>screech</span>
  </em>
  <span> broke through the room, also breaking Jeongin’s train of thought. Jeongin let out a small squeak, turning quickly towards the culprit. There Minho sat, chair pulled back and angled to face Jeongin.  With his head nestled upon his intertwined fingers, elbows resting on his knees, he gave the younger his full and direct attention. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Can I help you?”  A flawless eyebrow raised in inquiry, the hint of a smirk pairing nicely with his very-much-against-school-rules leather jacket.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh sorry, I think only literate people can write scripts,” Jeongin closed his notebook promptly, leaning back comfortably, attempting to gain control of the conversation.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Minho stared blankly at Jeongin for a moment, disbelief crossing his features, before a soft chuckle filled the silence. His lips turned up in a pretty smile, completely betraying the bad boy persona Minho had established for himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ouch, kiddo, you cut me deep.”  The elder held a hand to his chest, feigning hurt.  His eyes sparkled with amusement however, hinting at how impressed he was at the snark shown.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But seriously, am I really that handsome?”  Jeongin’s smirk betrayed his amusement.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m just finalizing the script draft, and it’s easier when I know what I’m working with.  I think a face like yours suits horror movies better though; you’d make a good monster.” Minho leaned forward further at the snipe, clearly dissecting the boy, eyes boring into Jeongin’s face.  The younger tried not to appear flustered, looking over to where Hyunjin was clearly fuming. Caught between a rock and a hard place, Jeongin looked back down to his notebook, chewing on his pencil nervously.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As Jeongin opened his mouth to say some bullshit about scriptwriting, footsteps stomped across the room and drew his eyes to a grumpy Hyunjin. The taller stood, fidgeting, nodding towards the himbo trio.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We need Jeongin.”  Jeongin tried not to laugh at the lack of an excuse, but his face probably betrayed him.  Minho slowly trailed his eyes from where he had been observing Jeongin to Hyunjin, a small smirk evident on his features.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sorry Hyunjin, he’s mine now, I’m keeping him.”  Jeongin almost snapped his pencil with his teeth, eyes widening before he turned to his best friend.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hyunjin stood there, mouth opening and closing like a fish as he tried to think of a response.  Apparently electing to ignore Minho, Hyunjin grabbed Jeongin’s pencil out of his mouth and walked away.  Jeongin, effectively flustered by both boys, silently picked up his stuff and followed his best friend, feeling Minho’s gaze follow him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He could already tell he wasn’t going to make it through this project without something happening with the way these two were acting.  He just hoped - prayed - whatever the future held was good. </span>
</p>
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